The Federal government was beginning to put together the team that
would prosecute the war to reunify the country. Yesterday had seen
the promotion of George H. Thomas to brigadier general, and the
recall of Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck from California to Washington.
Thomas, a Virginian, chose to stay with his nation over his state,
at considerable personal cost as much of his family never spoke to
him again. Halleck, it was correctly assumed, would be named to
overall command. Finally, today one George B. McClellan, major
general, was named commander of both the Department of the Potomac
and the army of the same name.

Wednesday Aug. 20 1862MCCLELLAN MAKES MARTIAL MOVEMENTS

One year later George McClellan was still in command of the Army of
the Potomac, although he was not leading them into any great number
of battles. One who was fighting today was Gen. John Pope, albeit
not very well. His Army of Virginia (one of the few Union armies
named after a piece of land rather than a body of water) was
skirmishing with Robert E. Lee’s men and coming out on the losing
end most of the time. McClellan set his men in motion today from the
Peninsula to Aquia Creek to be in a position to help Pope out. As he
feared Pope was something of a up and coming star, he was not in any
great hurry to assist the competition.

Thursday Aug. 20, 1863CHATTANOOGA CONFLICT CAUSES CONFUSION

When a vote was taken to decide if Tennessee would leave the Union,
the outcome was very close. The eastern part of the state had been
heavily against secession, but that did not mean the Federal effort
to reclaim them was going to be easy. Today Gen. William Rosecrans
and his Army of the Cumberland were nearing the Tennessee River as
they slowly closed in on Chattanooga. Their target, Gen. Braxton
Bragg, was sending increasingly hysterical telegrams to President
Davis demanding reinforcements. By his calculations his 40,000
troops were facing 60,000 with Rosecrans and another 30,000 to
arrive shortly under Burnside.

Saturday Aug. 20 1864STEVENS SEEKS STEALTHY SABOTEURS

The USS Pontoosuc sailed into Halifax, Nova Scotia today confident
that they would find and capture the CSS Tallahassee. This
Confederate commerce raider had been threatening shipping on the
vital New York-London routes in the North Atlantic. To the chagrin
of the Northerners they discovered they had missed their prey by a
mere seven hours, as she had sailed the night before. Lt. Commander
Stevens, commanding Pontoosuc, went ashore to consult the US
consulate. The consul reported that they were under the impression
that Tallahassee was headed for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so Stevens
headed in that direction. In fact the raider, short of fuel, was
headed home to Wilmington, N.C. She captured one more prize, the
brig Roan.